Entering his final year on the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, chairman Emon Mahony of El Dorado said he wants to stimulate and facilitate vigorous discussion about issues the commission will tackle in coming years.
Mahony presented a broad but ambitious outline to the commission Wednesday during his first work meeting as chairman. It contained a number of discussion items pertaining to each of the commission's standing committees, each with a general set of goals and directives.
"That isn't my plan I'm talking about," Mahony said. "What I'm trying to do is get a discussion started and encourage people to keep on doing what they're doing. The commission and staff are working together extremely well. People are more comfortable with change than they have been, and our director is pragmatic and completely open to what works. In general, that's how I see the whole agency working right now."
Among the topics of interest to sportsmen is revisiting a ban on spinning wing decoys at wildlife management areas.
"There's a huge group of people centered in Bayou Meto and Dave Donaldson that absolutely detest spinning wing decoys, and there's a lot of pressure to do away with them," Mahony said.
Fears that spinning wing decoys result in too many ducks being killed or overkilling young ducks have been discredited, Mahony said, but the devices do create conflict among hunters on heavily pressured public land.
"Everybody knows that the concern that spinning wing decoys are too effective was 180 degrees wrong, but in a heavily hunted area somebody using spinning wing decoys directly impinges on their neighbors," Mahony said. "They can't say what they do doesn't hurt anybody else."
The commission has no desire to ban spinning wing decoys on private land, Mahony said, but a pilot program on public land might provide a clear basis of public opinion.
"Let's take a year and see how they react to it," Mahony said. "That's something that's been coming for a long time. It's time for us to vote on it."
Turkey season is another discussion item. Turkey hunters in Arkansas have endured conservative turkey seasons for a long time, and Mahony said it might be appropriate to reward them. Seasons will probably remain short for awhile, but Mahony said the wildlife management staff should consider the pros and cons of opening the season a week earlier.
"Again, what I have in mind is a robust discussion," Mahony said. "The predominant thing in my mind when we talk about turkeys is how little we know. No matter when you set the season, it will always be too late. They'll always be 'gobbled out.' "
Nevertheless, Mahony said gobbling activity in south Arkansas is on a different timetable than in north Arkansas.
"The question is how much is it different," Mahony said.
Creating two turkey super zones with different season frameworks might be worth discussing, Mahony said.
"How disruptive is it going to be to set the seasons differently?" Mahony asked. "I think there's some drive to make the season a little earlier. If we had both on the table, I would choose a week to five days earlier for the whole state. It would take some pressure off south Arkansas."
Ultimately, he said, any adjustment or adaptation to turkey seasons would have to be weighed against its impact to the turkey resources.
Mahony said a discussion about creating individual lake management plans is in order. He said the fisheries management staff has the knowledge and tools to tailor management plans to specific lakes, and that individual plans would benefit anglers.
For example, a lake that is small enough to be effectively limed and fertilized should be limed and fertilized, Mahony said. Other lakes, like Bull Shoals, are too big for that to be practical, he added.
"I would support letting the people who make those decisions have the freedom to experiment so we can get some cross-pollination of what works from one place to another," Mahony said. "We do that now. The fish that are stocked in different places is largely controlled by local people and the fish they ask for."
BONANZA POSTPONED
Because of high water on the Arkansas River, the Arkansas Hospitality Association has rescheduled the Arkansas Big Bass Bonanza for July 31 through Aug. 2.
Current registrations will be honored, and anglers are not required to take any action.
Anglers who cannot fish the new dates may get their registration fees refunded. Call (501) 376-2323 or e-mail jill@hospitality.org for more information.
Sports on 07/16/2015